The second half unites these parts into essentially a road-trip narrative, with greater focus on the human characters. Each of the tales unspools hypnotic and beguiling, then slowly descends into terror. The first half of the novel delivers three seemingly unconnected stories, set with reverent wonder in the fields, the forest and the ocean respectively. As in a parable, the country is not named, but it has all the hallmarks of a climate-changed Australia. In The Rain Heron these myths are drenched in rain and seawater. Once again Arnott displays a gift for inventing myths that feel ancient. Like Arnott’s debut Flames, his new novel is rooted in the landscape and the climate, but this work is subtler, more serious and controlled.
Shortlisted for the 2021 Miles Franklin AwardĪ spellbinding eco-fable, The Rain Heron delivers a powerful message about the human need to control and subdue the natural world.
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